Will this be shown by the MSM? Will Obama say anything about this Veteran being beaten and left to die? I will say no. This society is spiraling out of control. We allow our children to no longer respect the elderly, let alone Veterans. Every man and woman in this country who claims to bleed RED, WHITE, and BLUE should be heartbroken by this story.

According to KXLY Spokane, 88 year old Delbert “Shorty” Belton was beaten in the parking lot of the Eagles Lodge in Spokane, WA on Wednesday evening. Witnesses say he was attacked around 8 p.m. on his way to play pool.

Belton, also known as “Shorty” at the Lodge, served in the United States Army during the Battle of Okinawa during World War II, where he was wounded in the leg by a gunshot. Afterward, he worked for over 30 years at Kaiser Aluminum in Trentwood.

Police tried to track the suspects’ scent with K-9s, but were unsuccessful. They also believe that this was a random assault, and that he did not know his attackers before the beating took place.

Ted Denison, who was Shorty’s long-time best friend, said they played pool together at the Eagles Lodge occasionally and worked on cars daily. He also says Delbert was a great friend, who was always there for him, and that he was always fun to be around. “I thought of him more as a dad than I did a friend really,” he said.

Delbert Belton died of his injuries Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

This story is still developing, and more details will be reported. Will this be shown nationally? I think it should. This should hit EVERY news station, EVERY newspaper, and EVERY corner of the internet.

This kind of story really tugs at my heart, not only because I am Veteran, but also because I am an American. I have always had the utmost respect for elderly Vets of past wars. These are the brave souls who risked their lives, usually in the most horrible conditions, to fight for our freedoms and for our rights.

I am sure that these THUGS had no idea this man was a WWII Veteran, but whatever happened to respecting your elders? Are parents so far gone from their children’s lives that they no longer teach proper respect and morals, or was it the fact that he was an old, white man who was an easy target in a parking lot?

I am not trying to say that it was a hate crime, but you know as well as I do that if an elderly black man was beaten by two white teens, this would have been on every news channel Wednesday night. I wish I was wrong with that statement, but it has been made very clear that a lot citizens of this country have allowed themselves to be divided by race.

In closing, we need to start looking inside ourselves and ask “Where did we go wrong?” Young people in this country are not being taught what it means to be a soldier, a fighter for freedom…a patriot. We need to go back to being PROUD of our military and proud to call ourselves Americans. We have brothers and sisters who risk their lives for us to be safe here at home, and respect those who have fought…without knowing if they’d come home.